For roasting, buy poultry from three months to a year old. For braising, stewing, and slower methods of cooking, buy older birds, as they contain a larger proportion of meat than the younger birds.
Game includes animals that are hunted in field or forest.
Venison is cut like mutton. The meat is much darker than beef meat, and the fat is whiter; it is cooked in the same ways as mutton.
Birds are sold with the feathers on, but have the market man remove them. All game is expensive, and so is a delicacy. In buying game, that which has hung three weeks or more is considered best.
DINNERS AND LUNCHEONS
The Formal Dinner
A formal dinner generally consists of ten courses, but may be eight or twelve. In order to have one harmonious whole, the different courses must blend well with each other. Avoid repetition; if oysters appear in the first course, they must not appear again. Observe these two points particularly in arranging the table: first, have the table linen immaculate and without folds; and second, arrange the covers with mathematical exactness.
The table may be square, oblong, or round; it must be covered with a soft pad, and then with the tablecloth, which should hang over the sides of the table at least one quarter of a yard on every side.
The selection of guests for a formal dinner is extremely important, and the seating at the table so that all are congenial takes some time to plan. Name cards should be placed at each cover. Each gentleman should be given a card, on entering the dressing room, with the name of the lady whom he is to escort to the dining room, and the letters R or L, also on the card, indicating to the right or left of the hostess.